[Haematological features of anorexia nervosa (author's transl)]

Nine patients with anorexia nervosa were studied, who had varying degrees of bone marrow failure ranging from a slight neutropenia to severe pancytopenia. In addition to routine laboratory work bone marrow biopsies were performed at admission and during the course of disease. In four of those patients erythropoietin excretion per 24 hours was measured by the bioassay in the polycythemic mouse at least twice during the course of treatment. At admission most bone marrow showed a marked although varying hypocellularity with grossly apparant background gelatinous material, which appeared to consist of acid mucopolysaccharides. Leukopenia and the changes of the bone marrow morphology reversed to normal after refeeding. Erythropoietin excretion was only elevated in patients who were anemic and returned to normal when the haematocrit reached normal levels. It seems therefore unlikely that an impaired production of erythropoietin or other postulated humoral factors cause the haemopoietic changes in anorexia nervosa. A direct effect of fat or carbohydrate depletion and/or of the increased mucopolysaccharides upon the proliferation of the haemopoietic cells can be suggested, but is an entirely speculative preposition.